As a captain of the Dutch women's hockey team, Carina Benninga got acquainted with issues of leadership, cooperation, communication, motivation and acceptance.

After her active sports career, Carina Benninga completed a series of training courses in the field of psychology and coaching.

In the period 1998 - 2015, she was a director at Van Ede & Partners, a leading career and outplacement agency in the Netherlands.

At club level, Carina Benninga played for HDM, HGC and Amsterdam in the Dutch Hockey League.

The dynamic midfield player made her debut for the national team at the 1983 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur.

Four years later in Sydney, under her leadership, the team of then-coach Roelant Oltmans won the title again, now at the expense of host country Australia.

Driven by an ongoing interest in psychology, human behavior and interaction, she got certificates and diplomas on Positive Psychology, Gestalt Therapy, Transformational Presence by Alan Seale, Systemic Coaching, Mindfulness, Hoffman Institute, NLP Master, Intuitive Development, Zijnsoriëntatie, Clowning, the Almaaz / Ridhwan School and The Work of Byron Katie.

She worked as a coach, career counselor, trainer and managing director of the Amsterdam branch before she held the position of Chief Executive in the period 2014–2015.